Stiller: Crazy after all these years

A "nerd" who makes "interesting choices" --and that's how his friends describe him. We collar "Starsky & Hutch" star Ben Stiller for some even more arresting clues to his charisma.

By David Hochman

THAT '70s SHOW REDUX "Starsky & Hutch" is the latest in a long line of pre-MTV TV shows to hit the big screen. Now Jim Carrey is remaking "The Six Million Dollar Man." We thought we'd beat Hollywood to the punch by picking a few classic shows we think are ripe for updating. Kojak: Vin Diesel in the role originally played by Telly Savalas. He's still the eccentric NYPD cop who sports fedoras and has a thing for lollipops. But now, instead of a Buick, Kojak runs down criminals in his tricked-out H2 with boomin' sound. "Who loves ya, baby?" WKRP in Cincinnati: Beyoncé as bootylicious bombshell Jennifer Marlowe, the sexy receptionist who made Loni Anderson a star. Robert Downey Jr. as Dr. Johnny Fever, Jack Black as Les Nessman and P. Diddy as Andy Travis. In the sitcom, a radio station struggled when a new boss changed the format to rock. Here, they'd switch to hip-hop. Imagine the soundtrack possibilities! Sanford and Son: Bernie Mac as the curmudgeonly junk dealer Fred Sanford and Dave Chappelle as his son, Lamont (following in the footsteps of Demond Wilson). Their junkyard would now be jammed with castoff computer parts, Super Soakers and Jody Watley CDs.

If it weren't for the familiar smirk, Ben Stiller would be almost unrecognizable. Obscured behind a glued-on goatee and a helmet of feathery blond hair for a comedy he's filming, the actor looks like an escapee from a Duran Duran video. "Do you like the mullet?" he asks mock-seriously, a tone that characterizes much of what Stiller says. "It's my tribute to Patrick Swayze. Have you not experienced 'Road House?'"

There he goes again. Most actors spend years angling for a place inside the showbiz bubble; Stiller got famous by sticking pins in it. Whether it's skewering pop culture in movies like "Zoolander" and his new big-screen sendup of "Starsky & Hutch" (opening March 5), or by championing his own super-geek image in his recent hit "Along Came Polly," Stiller's apparent purpose in life is to remind people -- especially people in Hollywood -- not to take things so seriously.

The actor's celebrity spoofs get nearly as much play as his movie roles. He mocked Tom Cruise in a hilarious skit for the 2000 MTV Movie Awards, by suiting up as the actor's clingy stunt double, Tom Crooze. A year later, at the Video Music Awards, Stiller goofed on P. Diddy's name changes. Now he's needling sensitive singer-songwriters with a guitar-toting, dewy-eyed cameo in a Jack Johnson video.

He's not just being funny. Stiller, 38, has little tolerance for America's 24/7 obsession with celebrity. He believes too much significance is given to the ordinary things stars say and do, which makes interviewing him about as much fun as the fishhook in the mouth he got in "brady b 'Something About Mary.'" He keeps an eye on the clock during the conversation and bristles when questions stray from his next film project. "I'm not leading a life people should care about," Stiller insists, sitting inside a plus-size movie trailer in Los Angeles. "It's not like I've made a sex tape or anything. Not that I think anybody would want to watch a Ben Stiller sex tape."

It doesn't take a psychology degree to see why Stiller, who's made more than 30 movies but is still something of a Hollywood underdog, sounds so jaded. Growing up in a showbiz family (his parents are comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara), Ben couldn't escape fame. Francis Ford Coppola would drop by the family's Manhattan apartment on New Year's Eve; Rodney Dangerfield and Andy Kaufman were Thanksgiving guests. "Andy didn't have turkey," says Stiller, who was 11 at the time. "He ate peanut butter and jelly." Things were just as surreal away from home. His dad recalls: "Once, when Anne and I were playing Vegas, we stayed at a motel with Gladys Knight. We came back from work and Ben was in the pool with the Pips."

That might sound like fun, but once you coax Stiller to open up about his upbringing and personal life, you quickly discover why he's so protective of his own celebrity marriage to Christine Taylor, who played Marcia Brady in the "Brady Bunch" movies. The couple has a daughter, Ella, almost 2. "You recognize things when you become a parent," he says. "My parents weren't perfect. They worked all the time. It was exciting, but there was a downside, too."

For one thing, Stiller opted to begin acting after high school rather than earn a degree (he attended UCLA briefly), something he regrets. Instead, he became a student of entertainment. "Ben has this very nerd pop-culture-encyclopedic recall," says Janeane Garofalo, a friend who co-starred on "The Ben Stiller Show," an early-'90s sketch series that was required viewing for the in-the-know comedy crowd the way "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is today. (Fittingly, Stiller got great reviews playing himself this season on "Curb.") "Ben can recite every line from 'Star Trek' and a hundred movies. We always said Ben was so determined to be a part of the industry that he became it."

Stiller continues to be a pop junkie, despite his protests that "the mania over finding out things about people like Michael Jackson and J.Lo has never been worse." He TiVos programs as diverse as the BBC's "The Office" ("the funniest thing on TV") and "Meet the Press," and pays close attention to unsung comics such as David Cross ("Arrested Development") and Mike White ("Chuck & Buck").

"Ben's not a down-the-middle comedy guy," says "Starsky & Hutch" co-star Vince Vaughn. "He has excellent taste. Even in a film like "Mary," he finds the high road within that, and you go, 'Wow -- this guy makes interesting choices.' "

Of course, a few have backfired. "The Cable Guy," which Stiller directed, almost derailed Jim Carrey's career. "Duplex" was one of last year's biggest flops. And while he earned high marks for his dramatic turn in "Permanent Midnight," Stiller hasn't wandered too far lately from the safety of high-concept comedies. That includes his latest project. "Starsky" is a disco-era buddy-cop comedy that reunites uptight David Starsky (Stiller) and roguish Ken Hutchinson (Owen Wilson), the grooviest detectives ever to drive a Ford Gran Torino. In the movie version of the hit TV series (1975-79), we learn how the duo met and watch them hunt down a drug kingpin (Vaughn).

Amusing? Perhaps. But is Stiller really stretching himself? "It would be interesting," movie critic Richard Roeper says, "to see Stiller return to television, [this time] in a serious drama. Imagine him doing something like James Spader's role on The Practice. That might open the doors to a wider range of theatrical film material."

Then again, movies like "Meet the Parents" are true classics, largely because of Stiller's low-key charisma. "The thing that makes Ben so funny is his sincerity," says frequent collaborator Will Ferrell. "[Audiences] feel like they know him and want to be friends with him." Adds Garofalo: "John Q. Public looks at Ben Stiller and says, 'He's the class nerd; he's like me' -- even though Ben's nothing like them."

In fact, Stiller is quite exacting, to the point of appearing uncooperative. When asked during the interview what gets him angry or whether he and his wife ever argue when they work together (they're shooting a comedy called "Dodgeball"), his response is to clench his jaw and say, "I don't understand the intent of the question."

"Starsky" director Todd Phillips says: "Ben has a very East Coast approach. Things don't sit and simmer with him. He lets you know right up front what he's thinking. He'll fire off e-mails at 2 in the morning if he's unhappy with a scene."

Part of it comes down to Stiller's issues with fame. Making Starsky reminded him there was a time when celebrity culture was different. "It was way more simple [in the '70s]," he says. "A few actors would break out and become huge. Now there are so many stars, so many channels, so much stuff -- everybody's famous."

That's not necessarily a negative. To avoid the paparazzi on a recent trip to New York, Stiller made his daily exit from his hotel on the coattails of celebrities higher on the food chain. Telling the story, Stiller laughs at the absurdity of fame today. "I'd wait for, like, 'N Sync to leave," he says, "and slip out without anybody noticing."

Too bad he wasn't dressed like Patrick Swayze.

Cover and cover story photographs by Jim Wright for USA WEEKEND
Hair by Cervando Maldonado, The Wall Group; makeup by Catherine Furniss for Kiehls/Celestine; styling by Tanya Gill, Solo Artists
Clothing: Shirt by John Varvatos, pants by Paper, Cloth and Denim at Barneys New York